The past three decades of war and chaos have had a devastating impact on Afghanistan and it’s people. 11 years after the defeat of the Taliban regime and the following war by the International Coalition Forces, the state of women’s rights in particular remains extremely poor…

Women have made progress. 

Since 2001, more than 2 million girls have started going to school. 

More than 3,000 midwives have been educated in a country, where having a baby is still one of the most dangerous things a woman can do. 

Almost a third of the members of Parliament are women. Women work as lawyers, teachers, artists and entrepreneurs. 

Yet there are frequent threats against and attacks on female politicians, social activists, women in general... 

There still are bombings and attacks on girls’ schools. 

Women and their children are jailed for so called “moral crimes”, such as running away from domestic violence.

With the planned withdrawal of the International Coalition Forces in 2014 and presidential elections in a very unstable country, the situation will most likely worsen. 

In particular for women and children, who always are most vulnerable in fragile situations. 

According to a UN report released last week, there is a 20% increase in violence against women and girls.

This essay is about some of the women and girls I met during my travel through Afghanistan, where I met women in prison for 'moral crimes', girls in schools wanting to become teachers themselves, a doctor who delivers babies in one of the most remote parts of the country. 

Here are some of the incredible strong and brave women who hope that after 2014 things won't change for the worse yet again.

Wendy Marijnissen

Biography

Wendy Marijnissen is a freelance documentary photographer from Belgium.
Intuition and personal interests have always played a major role in her work and naturally guided Wendy to her subjects. 

In 2008 she completed a long-term reportage in Israel and Palestine, using music to show a different part of daily life in this stressful and violent region. In the summer of 2009 she covered the East-Jerusalem evictions and later that year went to Pakistan for the first time. 

For the following 3 years Wendy worked in Pakistan focusing mainly on photographing the hardships of pregnancy and childbirth there. Following traditional midwifes in a camp after devastating floods displaced millions of people in the country. Part of this work in Pakistan was used for the ‘End Fistula campaign’ of the UNFPA. 

She was a finalist for the Fotovisura Grant for Outstanding Personal photography project 2010 and received a honorable mention at the Photocrati Fund 2011 grant with her work ‘Every woman counts’. She was a finalist in the Save the Children photo competition in 2012. 
Wendy is based in Antwerp, Belgium.